On May 12, Liu Bei defeated Cao Ren and pursued all the way to Lanling County.

Cao Ren lost a lot of men and horses, but fortunately, the front army and half of the Chinese army were not damaged, so after evacuating to Lanling County, he fought a decisive battle with Liu Bei again.

The two sides engaged in a skirmish of about four or five thousand men outside the city, and Liu Bei originally had a chance to defeat Cao Ren once and for all.

But Xu Tan did not move and sat idly by, which led to the failure of this opportunity, which is regrettable.

Later, when the sky was getting dark, Cao Ren took advantage of the situation to launch an attack and defeat Liu Bei, Liu Bei retreated more than ten miles, gathered the rout, and fled in the direction of Xiangben County in the southeast.

By May 13, Liu Bei had returned to Yan County, and Tao Qian heard that Shen Chen had returned to his hometown at this time, and immediately summoned him to ask for advice.

In the state pastor's mansion, Tao Qian was discussing with everyone, in addition to Kong Rong, there were cronies Cao Hong, Cao Bao, Chen Deng, Mi Zhu, and Xu Tan, who did not go to support Liu Bei yesterday, but collected troops and returned to Yan County.

Because Shen Chen's prediction was correct, he was also summoned.

On the field, Xu Tan and the wicked person sued first, saying that Liu Bei was rash of the enemy, because it was dark and he didn't know the enemy's situation, so he could only retreat and come back first.

While he was talking, Liu Bei had already returned.

He asked Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun to appease the soldiers first, and went to the state pastor mansion alone.

Still outside the door, hearing that Xu Tan was shirking his responsibility, he broke in angrily, glared at Xu Tan and said, "General Xu, I asked you for help, where did you go?" ”

"Hmph, I see that you are advancing lightly, and the sky is dark, how can you pursue the enemy? So what's wrong with coming back? ”

Xu Tan was a little surprised to see that Liu Bei was still alive, but quickly found a reason for himself to shirk responsibility.

And Shen Chen on the side was looking at Liu Bei, and saw that his face was resolute and majestic, although embarrassed but graceful, just from the appearance, it really made people feel very groomed.

"Lightly attacked?"

Liu Bei was even more angry, and scolded loudly: "Obviously, you said that since I came to Xuzhou to help Tao Gong, I shouldn't be cowardly." After I went into battle, I defeated the enemy, but you did not move, what is the reason? ”

Xu Tan looked surprised and said, "When did I say such a thing to you?" I just followed behind you according to Ming Gong's wishes, but you ventured into the middle of the ambush by yourself, what does it have to do with me? ”

"You villain!"

Liu Bei drew his sword angrily, he had never seen such a brazen person.

Seeing that things were about to make a big fuss, Kong Rong hurriedly stood up and stopped Liu Bei and said, "Xuande, Xuande, don't do it." ”

Tao Qian felt at a loss at this time, because he sent Xu Tan over to help, no matter whether Liu Bei was rash or not, Xu Tan did not help, which naturally made him feel shameless.

Therefore, he coughed twice and scolded: "Xu Tan, you go down!" ”

"Ming Gong!"

Xu Tan hurriedly wanted to continue to shirk responsibility, but he didn't know that his little cleverness had backfired.

Tao Qian's voice became louder, and he shouted: "Go down!" ”

"Yes."

Xu Tan had no choice but to leave.

Liu Bei was dissuaded by Kong Rong to sit on the seat next to him, and his whole body was constantly wheezing, obviously indignant in his heart.

Tao Qian saw that his anger was high, and said apologetically: "Xuande, it's me who is not strict in discipline. ”

Liu Bei got up angrily and said to Tao Qian: "Tao Gong, Beiben is righteous to help, this time to pursue the enemy, see the enemy in an ambush on the avenue, so I want to wait and see, it is the words that provoke me, I continued to lead the troops to attack, the result was a fluke defeat of the enemy, all the way to Lanling, but he hid behind, unwilling to send troops to help, resulting in failure. If Tao Gong doesn't believe me, then go back to the plains. ”

With that, he turned around and prepared to leave.

Retreat?

I don't know why, Shen Chen looked at this scene and remembered this idiom in his heart.

But after a moment the idea was erased.

Because Liu Bei was really smart enough to retreat, he would not be provoked by Xu Tan's inferior provocation method to pursue a strong enemy, and almost put himself in danger.

So judging from the current observations, Shen Chen only saw a stunned young man who had no city government.

This disappointed him a little.

Because the future Emperor Zhaolie of the Shu Han Dynasty has not been beaten by reality at least now, he is young and vigorous, and he is far from having the bearing that he should have after middle age.

However, if you think about it, maybe this is also a reasonable thing.

Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Cao Cao, who are they?

The second generation of the top officials of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

For many people, their starting point is likely to be the end of their lives.

On the other hand, what about Liu Bei?

Born in the low-level commoners, with a clan halo on his head, he actually did not enter the royal family tree, only the Liu family blood and no due political status.

The political education and environment in which both sides have been raised since childhood are not at all the same level.

Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and Yuan Shu grew up in a top family of gatekeepers, and were affected by political struggles and bureaucratic struggles, and the city government and heart will naturally be much deeper.

Even the worst Yuan Shu once dominated Huainan, and almost the entire Henan and other places were in the bag.

Liu Bei was still far from reaching their level.

Perhaps in the future, he will not be able to grow up quickly until he becomes a pastor in Xuzhou, and the experience of being displaced between Yuan Shu and Lu Bu and later between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao.

Therefore, the anxious, immature, and scheming character he is showing now is his truest character now.

It is precisely because of this that he will rescue Beihai and Xuzhou in one word.

It's just that seeing Liu Bei now, Shen Chen also strengthened the idea of raising the clan to go to Jingzhou to avoid trouble.

After all, Xuzhou is already very dilapidated, and Liu Bei's current character is flawed, and he is by no means an object that can be assisted.

There are only two people in the entire Three Kingdoms who are worthy of assistance, one is Liu Bei and the other is Cao Cao.

But Shen Chen didn't want to go to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao was moody, and the history books recorded that he was strict and often responsible, and when he followed him, he not only had to be afraid, but also worried about the danger of falling to the ground if he was not careful.

And Shen Chen was extremely displeased with his slaughter of the city and cannibalism, so after crossing over to the Three Kingdoms, he never thought of defecting to him.

As for self-proclaimed king.

I also thought about it, but unfortunately his background determined the difficulty of this path.

Of the princes of the entire Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei's background was the worst.

Even Gongsun Zhan's family has a father-in-law and a teacher, and he is also very brave, and he is appreciated by his boss and promoted very quickly.

If there is no one above, you want to get the territory but you can't get it, you don't have connections, you don't have resources, you don't have status, you won't come to you, the people won't believe you, and the soldiers and horses won't fight to the death for you.

Therefore, Shen Chen had thought about it for a long time before finally making a choice.

Unfortunately, the timing is not right.

"Xuande, don't think about it."

Seeing that Liu Bei was really leaving, Tao Qian couldn't care about his old and unbearable body, and hurriedly stood up and said, "This is the decision of his subordinates, and the old man has no intention of doing so." ”

"Yes, Xuande, Tao Gong has always been loyal, how can he not believe in Xuande?"

Kong Rong also grabbed him and persuaded him.

"Don't be angry, the top priority is to deal with state and county affairs."

"Liu Yuanjun, don't trap Tao Gong for injustice for this matter."

Mi Zhu and Chen Deng next to him also strongly persuaded Liu Bei to stay, so he sat down sullenly.

Tao Qian walked over tremblingly, and sincerely bowed to Liu Bei to apologize: "Xuande, this matter is too old to discipline the subordinates, please forgive Xuande." ”

Liu Bei was taken aback, and hurriedly stepped forward to help: "Where is Tao Gong, I am also angry that Xu missed the opportunity, and I have no intention of blaming Tao Gong." ”

"Ugh."

Tao Qian sighed, suddenly beckoned to Mi Zhu, and said, "Zizhong, go and get my Xuzhou brand seal." ”

"Forehead ......"

Liu Bei didn't know what he meant for a while, so he looked around and glanced at Kong Rong Chen Deng, his eyes were quite confused.

After a while, Mi Zhu brought the seal of Xuzhou Mu.

Tao Qian took it, held Liu Bei's hand and said bitterly: "Xuande, there is a big chaos today, Wang Gang is sluggish, the prince is a clan member of the Han family, and it is appropriate to help Sheji, the old man is old and incompetent, and he is willing to give in to Xuzhou." ”

"Tao Gong!"

Liu Bei was shocked, he knelt down on one knee in a hurry, stood upright, and said solemnly: "Tao Gong's words made Liu Bei more embarrassed, although he was a descendant of the Han Dynasty, but the merit Weibo, the current plain minister is afraid that he is incompetent." Now for the sake of righteousness, I came to help, and I said this, do you suspect that I have the heart to annex Xuzhou? With this heart, the emperor will not bless! ”

"Oh, I didn't mean that." Tao Qian hurriedly clarified: "The old man really wants to give up Xuzhou, Qian should write his own text, play the court, please don't shirk!" ”

"Tao Gong."

Liu Bei shook his head and said: "At the moment, the Cao army doesn't know what the trend is, I have just been defeated, they are very likely to come to Xuzhou again, and the top priority at the moment is that the Cao army should be retreated first." ”

"Duke Ming, what Liu Yuanjun said is extremely true, it is indeed important that Cao Jun should be retreated first."

Chen Deng also stood up and persuaded him.

Tao Qian hesitated for a moment, and finally sighed, nodded and said, "Okay, then let's discuss the matter of retiring Cao first." ”

In fact, at this time, Tao Qian really wanted to give Xuzhou to Liu Bei.

The reason is simple.

One is that his body knows that these days, Tao Qian has vomited blood because of Cao Cao's massacre of Xuzhou, and he knows that his life is not long, and his two sons will not be able to do anything, so he must find someone who can defend Xuzhou.

Second, after learning what Xu Tan had done, Tao Qian was even more saddened, because it meant that his control over Xuzhou was already very weak, and even Danyang soldiers' cronies did not listen to his orders.

You must know that at this time, Tao Qian's decree could not leave the East China Sea at all, Zhenrong occupied Guangling, Pengcheng and Xiapi were slaughtered by Cao Cao, and Langya was occupied by Zang Ba and Xiao Jian respectively, and both of them were almost divided into one side.

So at the beginning, Shen Chen also analyzed for him, if you want to save Xuzhou, you must first re-incorporate the Langya Kingdom in the rear into your hands, so that it is connected to Kongrong's Beihai and takes care of each other.

However, Tao Qian felt more and more that his body was weakened, as if he had aged ten years in just one month, and now even his cronies had begun to disobey his orders, how could such a sick body be dominant?

Therefore, Tao Qian also had to start planning for his death.

After thinking about it, only Liu Bei could hold Xuzhou, so he decided to give up Xuzhou, but he didn't expect that Liu Bei would resolutely accept it because of morality, which made him helpless.